On 28 January 1972 the federal government and the premiers of the states instituted the so-called Radikalenerlass (Anti-Radical Decree). Under this decree, people who were considered to be a member or aligned to an extremist organization, were banned from work as civil servants (Beamter), which includes a variety of public sector occupations such as teaching. The decree was declared as response to terrorism by the Red Army Faction.

Berufsverbot is the common name for the decree by people who opposed it, because they claim it contradicts the freedom of occupational choice guaranteed by the Basic Law of Germany. Law experts do not use the term for these cases as the decree does not forbid the occupation by itself.

The law was applied unevenly after 1979, and many of the states of Germany repealed the relevant legislation. Other states, like Bavaria, still apply the decree.

In at least one case (Vogt v. Germany, 1995), the European Court of Human Rights found Germany in breach of its responsibilities to a citizen (Dorothea Vogt, a dismissed teacher who was an active member of the German Communist Party) under Article 10 (right to freedom of expression) and Article 11 (right to freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The government subsequently settled with her, providing compensation for her time without full earnings, topping up her pension rights for that period, as well as other modest damages and costs.